ICC denies reports of ban on Urdu

The ICC has told Cricinfo that it has not asked the Pakistan team management to avoid holding press conferences in Urdu during the World Cup.

It was announced yesterday that the Pakistan players would only answer questions in Urdu so as to avoid any ambiguity in the answers given, and subsequently it was reported the ICC had requested them to speak English to avoid media conferences being excessively drawn out.

"At no point did the ICC say it cannot allow the Pakistan team management to hold press conferences in Urdu," an ICC spokesman told Cricinfo. "The ICC doesn't tell the participating teams in which language they have to speak. The issue of Pakistan players speaking in Urdu was discussed with the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Naseem Ashraf in Kingston earlier this week and he agreed with the ICC that for all media events happening inside the playing field players will speak in English, while for all media events outside the playing field, Pakistan players will talk in Urdu."